In our previous drawing classes we learned to draw pictures in a rather
freehand manner. In today's lesson we will be working with more precise
tools, to wit: A compass, a telescope, and a microscope.

In nature everything works
in a circle. We
see in the microscope (at least supposedly someone has) that the atom
is composed of tiny particles called neutrons, protons, electrons and
cosmic glue. This tiny creature is what everything is composed of. How
many zeros would have to go after some number to express how many of
these things it takes to make up just one person I suppose is
incalculable. Yet without these elements, nothing could exist.

In order for an element to
remain stable,
everything must remain the same. Nothing is allowed to change. However,
just as we strive for stability in our lives, stability creates
stagnation and disaffection. In order to prevent an entropic
(motionless) condition, everything in nature is in constant flux.

For an element to remain in
its present
condition it must not change in any way. All its parts must stay the
same. We have this condition in society as well. For a family, a tribe,
an organization, a nation, or any other group of people (or other
animal) to remain as it has been established, nothing, nor no one must
lack conformity with that establishment.

In the world of the atom
there is what is
called a free radical, that is a basic element that does not conform to
the composition is has been attached to. Because of this free radical,
unrest is created within the compound, or in the case of society,
resistance and instability prevails.

Non-conforming elements
within an atomic
structure is essential for life to exist. Movement of the elements
create energy, which in turn provides warmth, and mobility, and health
to the organism it helps to compose.

Now, let us leave our
microscope and take to
our telescope. As we look into the heavens we see a duplication, an
exact copy if you will, of what we witnessed through our microscope. If
we could venture deep into outer space, far beyond our galactic system
we would see the same events taking place in the heavens as we have
seen in the atom, and thereby on our own biological make-up. What we
see now in the heavens, we saw in the minuscule world of the atom. And
if we had lived thousands of years ago, we would have seen exactly the
same thing as we see today in God's creation.

We now return home from our
adventure in
inner and outer space to once again take our place at our drawing
table. Are you tired from the trip? I thought you might be. And I
suspect you wonder why I took you so far from home in order to
introduce you to this lesson on drawing a circle. I can well understand
your bewilderment.

We have seen that everything
moves in a
circle. Everything from the largest to the smallest; from the oldest to
the newest of creation revolves around something. And the something
that is in the center of a revolution is revolving around something
else. As far as we know, there is nothing, other than a free radicle
(such as a comet in the bigger scheme of things), that is not part of
some circular motion. Wherever it began, it will return to once again.

Now to draw what you've been
experiencing.
Take your compass (make sure your pencil is sharp), and open it about 3
or 4 inches. Make sure the picture you draw will not extend outside the
paper you have before you. Is your compass and your paper ready? Very
good. Now, place the sharp pointy end of your compass in the center of
the paper. Try not to mar the table under the paper. Those pointy
things can make a nasty hole in your mother's treasured antique table.
Hmmm. I guess I should have warned you of this first, shouldn't I?

Now, draw a circle on your
paper with your
compass. Continue your circle until you've connected both ends of the
circle. Continue drawing until you come to the end of the circle. Keep
going. You know there has to be an end somewhere. Keep in mind the more
times you go around that circle, the deeper the hole you're making in
your mother's table. I guess I should have warned you of that as well.

Did you come to an end? A
question: How many
times do you think you would have to go around that circle before you
found the end?

For this next drawing,
adjust you compass
until it makes a circle about three or four inches in diameter. Now, on
a clean sheet of paper (and hopefully another table, a table that
doesn't mind being poked by pointy metal objects) draw a circle using
your compass on the top half of your paper. Now, place the pencil end
of your paper on the bottom of the circle you just drew, and with the
pointy end secured, draw another circle below the first circle. You
should now have what appears to be a figure 8. Does it look like a
figure 8? Good. Now turn the paper sideways. What does it look like
now? Does it look like a sleepy 8?

What you now have is the
sign for infinity.
Do you know what infinity is? Infinity is forever, endless, can not be
measured. Infinity is what we all, whether in the Church, or outside
the Church, desire to spend in Heaven, and not in that other place.

Have you noticed anything
about the infinity
sign you just drew? Take a look. It is like your circle.

We think of forever as being
a straight line
extending to some place far beyond where we now stand. But is that so?
This question is what we're about to explore in our effort to learn how
to draw a circle.

I don't keep up with the
news, I don't watch
TV, nor do I even listen to the radio. You could well say I'm an
ignoramus when it comes to current events. One day a while back I found
a newspaper in a trash ben. I thought I would take a look at the paper
to see what I might find newsworthy. Did I find anything newsworthy?
Not at all. In fact the paper read almost exactly the same way it did
ten years ago when I last read a newspaper. The names of the people in
the news might be different. The natural disasters might be happening
in a different place. The economy crises might be at a higher level.
Our national debt might be a few billion dollars more, and we might be
at war with a different country: But otherwise the news is just the
same as it's always been. It reminds me of the tabloids at the checkout
stands, we can always expect to see the words "Shocking," "Sex," "End
of the world (especially at Christmas time," and "President So 'n So
caught with his pants down." Nothing new except the name and the date
on the paper. I suppose if they had of had tabloids during the time of
Adam and Eve they would have read almost exactly like they do today:
"Hark! Famous man in Eden caught nude in public: Brother kills brother;
Man builds giant boat; Animals invade city; End of the World! Weather
report: Much rain expected, carry umbrella."

Solomon said:

4One
generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but
the earth abideth for ever. 5The
sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place
where he arose. 6The
wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it
whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to
his circuits. 7All
the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place
from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. 8All
things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not
satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9The
thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done
is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10Is
there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been
already of old time, which was before us.,
all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 15That
which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting
(Eccl 1:)

There is nothing new under
the sun.

6And ye
shall hear of
wars and rumours of wars:
see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass,
but the end is not yet. 7For
nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and
there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers
places.8All
these are the beginning of sorrows. 9Then shall
they deliver
you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of
all nations for my name's sake.
(Mat 24:)

Again, nothing new under the
sun. Natural
disasters, wars, rumors of wars have been with us from the beginning.
And the Christian has been killed and persecuted for the past 2,000
years, either being killed by the heathens, or by other Christians. The
worst of any of these things come in waves, and the location varies,
but they are always with us. We now are at the brink of annihilation,
and we all know it: Yet we pay no attention to the possibility. When I
was young we knew at any moment Russia could drop a bomb on our head,
so we built bomb shelters, and we practiced bomb drills where we would
duck under our desk during school.

Nothing new under the sun:
Only how we look
at the old thing as it passes us by has changed.

37But
as the days of Noe
were, so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be. 38For
as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark, (Mat 24:)

28Likewise
also as it was in
the days of Lot; they did
eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29But
the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone
from heaven, and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:)

22For
as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1Cor 15:)

Whatever it is we want to
describe or
explain or present a picture of we can find plenty of examples of such
an occurrence or situation in the history books. This is never more
true than in the Bible. Repetition is resplendent in the Bible.
Consider the prophesies about Jesus, and in fact the prophesies in
general. Over and over again, often in the same book, prophecies are
given, often using almost exactly the same words. Consider the number
of times the Tabernacle was described in the books of Moses using
almost the same words. And of course, considering the Tabernacle, which
in itself was a picture of the Temple, and a picture of Jesus, and a
picture of the Church, and at the same time a picture of Heaven. The
Tabernacle was an amazing example of repetition in itself. The book of
Deuteronomy is a repeat of what had already been said and demonstrated
in the three books preceding it. In fact the word is Hebrew for
"Duplicate." Chronicles is almost a carbon copy of first and second
Kings. Almost everything Jesus and the Apostles said was an exposition
of what had been said in the Old Testament, and in fact it was often
given to us as a direct quote of the Old Testament. And the Old
Testament can be seen to have been but a shadow, a prediction and an
explanation of what is described in the New Testament.

10And
his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias
must first come? 11And
Jesus answered and said unto them,
Elias truly shall first come,
and restore all things. 12But
I say unto you, That
Elias is come already, and
they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.
Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. 13Then
the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
(Mat 17:)

Elijah was here on earth,
was in John the
Baptist (in a figure), appeared with Jesus at the transfiguration, and
he will come again. When we close a door to repetition, we close
ourself off to what God is trying to show us.

15The
LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee,
of thy brethren, like unto
me; unto him ye shall
hearken; (Deut 18:)

22For
Moses truly said
unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you
of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things
whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23And
it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that
prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. 24Yea,
and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many
as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.
(Acts 3:)

It's because of repetition
we understand the
Bible. If we say "Oh, I've already read the Bible," or "I know what
this passage is going to say so I'll just skim it," then we have
stopped our ears and God can't tell us anything beyond what we think we
already know. There are some parts of the Bible I've seen and studied
ten to fifty times, and I still keep seeing new things, and making new
connections with other passages I read afresh. The Bible is always
alive and exciting, no matter how many times I read the Words of God.

"Line upon line, precept
upon precept."

23It
was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens
should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with
better sacrifices than these. 24For
Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are the figures of the true;
but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
(Heb 9:)

16Howbeit
for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might
show forth all longsuffering, for
a pattern to them which
should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. (1Tim 1:)

6Let
no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an
holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17Which
are a shadow of things to come;
but the body is of Christ. (Col 2:)

5Who serve
unto the
example and shadow of heavenly things,
as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the
tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou
make all things according to the pattern showed
to thee in the mount. (Heb 8:)

A pattern is something
designed to be
followed precisely. And it is something to be repeated over and over. A
pattern dress will have pictures or dots or checker squares all exactly
alike.

33For
God is not the
author of confusion, but of
peace, as in all churches of the saints. (1Cor 14:)

Man will often strive for
order, but his way
is that of confusion, disharmony and chaos as he strives to direct
everything to himself instead of the purpose at hand. Government of any
nature is a good example of this very thing.

9Neither
let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed
of serpents. 10Neither
murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the
destroyer. 11Now all these
things
happened unto them for ensamples:
and they are written for
our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12Wherefore
let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 13There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:
but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that
ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,
that ye may be able to bear it. 14Wherefore,
my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. (1Cor 10:)

What we experience, others
have and will
experience. God has a plan for His creation. Our job is to find the
will of God for our life, and to follow that plan. Instead we try to
understand God's plan so we can change
it to fit our
will.

We have expressions such as:
"History
repeats itself," and "If we don't learn from our mistakes (history),
we're bound to repeat it." We understand this principle, yet we at the
same time try to close the door to what we see as past. We like to take
our trash, bundle it up, and tie it up with a bow. We like to have our
circumstances well in hand, to be in control of our life. And part of
the fulfillment of this desire comes from tying up loose ends. But life
is like that pesky habit you try so hard to break. As soon as you think
you have it well in hand, it pokes up its nasty head and bites you
where it hurts the most.

7And
when the thousand years are expired, Satan
shall be loosed out of his
prison, 8And
shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of
the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number
of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9And
they went up on the breadth of the earth, and
compassed the camp of the saints about,
and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and
devoured them. (Rev 20:)

Talk about repetition, these
are the same
naughty folks who are to cause the nation Israel problems (according to
eschatologists) during the Tribulation a thousand years earlier.

Gog and Magog essentially
means a country
from the North, supposedly Russia since that is the country furthest to
the north. I have my doubts about this, although Russia does still have
her fingers in the pie. Another meaning of the words however is that of
Antichristian and Antichrist. Consider these words from Habakkuk:

1The
burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. 2O
LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto
thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! 3Why
dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for
spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife
and contention. 4Therefore
the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the
wicked doth compass about the righteous;
therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. (Hab 1:)

Isn't this just like the
picture John
painted for us in his book of Revelation? Consider this from the
Psalmist David:

12For
innumerable evils have compassed me about:
mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look
up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart
faileth me. 13Be
pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. (Psalm
40:)

8Thine
hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out
those that hate thee. 9Thou
shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the
LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
10Their
fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the
children of men. 11For
they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device,
which they are not able to perform. (Psalm 21:)

Doesn't this also sound like
what John saw?
And did you notice that in all these verses a compass, the same tool
we're using for our picture, is being utilized?

7He
stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth
the earth upon nothing. 8He
bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent
under them. 9He
holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. 10He
hath compassed the waters with bounds,
until the day and night come to an end. (Job 26:)

God used a compass to design
this earth we
live in. And did you notice, that while the ancient philosophers and
scientists of the civilized world were trying to figure out how this
world was being held up, Job already knew it was suspended on nothing?
And as for the use of a compass, consider this from Isaiah:

21Have
ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the
beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22It
is he that sitteth upon
the circle of the earth,
and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out
the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
(Isaiah 40:)

Isaiah knew the world was
round. Even when
Columbus stumbled upon this great nation of ours, those in the "know"
were sure this world was flat, and that was thousands of years after
Job and Isaiah.

15See
then that ye walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise, 16Redeeming
the time, because the days are evil. 17Wherefore
be ye not unwise, but
understanding what the will of the Lord is.
(Eph 5:)

The first tool we as a child
learn to use is
a compass. We, as described by Paul, want to learn the will of our
parents, not so we can walk circumspect ("cautious and watchful") in
that will, but how we can best circumvent ("avoid, get around") that
will in order to do what we want to do. Many churches today are based
on the concept of learning God's will for us so they can manipulate it
to their own lusts.

We never outgrow our desire
to do what we
want to do while avoiding the consequences for our actions. It's one of
those repeating aspects of life that haunts us like a bad habit.

Circles are everywhere we
look. Circles are
just as much a part of our life as they are a part of life itself. Just
as a seedling becomes a flower that blossoms for a short time and
creates the seeds that will produce more of its kind before it withers
and dies, so do we live to produce fruit, then pass from this earth to
make room for new life to grow and produce. Life, as we know it, is not
designed to last but a moment.

So it is with history. What
we see today,
those who have gone before have seen, and those who will follow us will
see also in their time. God created the earth, then He destroyed the
earth with a flood (Gen 6:13; 9:11). The earth was destroyed, yet the
earth is still here. In the near future God will again destroy the
earth, yet we see from Scripture that the earth will still be here, and
it will be inhabited by man. Birth, death, and rebirth.

Jesus said:

24Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if
it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
(John 12: see also John 3:3 "Born again")

Jesus died in order that a
harvest of people
just like Him may be produced, which in turn is to die in order to bear
even more fruit. The cycle is continuous. Should the cycle be halted,
then the harvest will wither and die. We see this process of death and
rebirth in the life of the Martyrs, both past and present. With the
death of a martyr ("Witness") comes a renewed faith in those associated
with the martyred one. The death of a Martyr also produces change. We
see this change in the thinking and the direction of the Church. A
Martyr dies, and a new church, a new set of doctrines spring up and
flourishes. The Jew's efforts to stamp out this Christian "cult" only
served to spread the Gospel, as does a wind the seeds of a tree. The
more force behind the wind, the further the seeds are dispersed. This
has especially proven to be so these past 600 years or there abouts.
Thousands of deaths for a cause has produced thousands of
denominations, all similar to one another, yet often very different
from one another and from the seed it originally sprang from.

We see how in Noah, the best
of the produce
God had planted, a new direction, a new covenant was created. Then
again we see this process furthered in the choosing of Abraham. Then
again in the choosing and the training of the nation of Israel under
the tutorship of Moses.

We see how Jesus was a
rebirth, and a more
completed form, of Adam, the original creation, both born through a
miracle. Adam was the vessel the substance of God was planted in. But
if the plant, that is, the Holy Spirit, is to function to its full
capability, the vessel that contains the Holy Spirit must removed. When
a tree outgrows the pot that contains it, the pot must be done away
with. It's not the pot that is important, but rather its only value is
as a temporary housing for the important element, that is, the tree.

We, the Church, were born of
Adam, the
flesh. Then we were reborn in the form of the Spirit of God, yet we
continue to be in possession of this vessel of flesh that we are to
strive to minimize and do away with in order not to quench the Spirit
(John 3:3; 1Thes 5:19). In an age to come we will once again experience
death and rebirth. This body of flesh that we have inherited from Adam
will be dissolved, and the Spirit residing in this vessel will flourish
and mature. Man, at that time, will truly be "made in the image of God"
as is Jesus.

Man uses a compass to create
his cycle of
events, and God uses a compass to create. Man's compass, like that
pointy thing that is digging into your mother's expensive table, is
destructive, and what it creates deteriorates. We build monuments to
ourself, such as magnificent buildings and statues. Whatever we build,
time will wear away and destroy. The great architecture of long past
has become rubble, buried beneath the sands of time. Only that which we
continually make an exerted effort to preserve will survive the effects
of time.

Does the disintegration of
what we compose
mean that God's creation is less than perfect? Not at all. Like that
atom we investigated in the beginning,, the atom still exists, only its
form, its composition has changed. It becomes a new element, just as do
we when we shed this fleshly vessel after time has ravaged it. This
flesh becomes what it is in fact composed of, and that is dust, water
and air. Then it takes up another form, or becomes a part of many new
forms, which in turn will ultimately have to release the elements back
to their original form.

God's compass works in just
the opposite
direction than man's compass. What God creates continually becomes
better. We look around us and we see failure, deterioration and
destruction. We see war, and famine, and violence, and pollution. But
none of these are a part of God's creation, it is entirely man's doing.
Take man out of the picture, and the earth will return to the Eden it
once was, and can (and will) be once again. This is what God is in the
process of doing, that is to remove man, the selfish, destructive
elements of man, and replace him with the productive element of
Himself. We see this in Jesus, and in the Apostles. These men, the new
form of man, devotes himself to God, God's creation, and his fellow
man. Can you imagine a world of such people? Wouldn't that be a
marvelous world? Or would you prefer a world where people have nothing
to do but float on clouds and play a golden harp for eternity?

5For
I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. 6Whatsoever
the LORD pleased, that did he in
heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. 7He
causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh
lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.
(Psalm 135:)

17Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
(2Cor 5:)

The waves of the ocean lap
the sandy shore,
then silently slip back to wince it came. The moon is seen to wax, then
to wane. All things are today as they were the day God created them. We
have seen empires come, and go. We have heard promises made, and we've
seen promises fail. What is now, has gone before, and will be again.